Noel Borthwick

This is bizarre. Did you install the latest sonar update successfully? If you disable the automatic VST3 migration this will prevent auto loading the new plugins.

You can change this  in Preferences > VST Settings > VST3 Migration and uncheck "Replace if Possible on Project Load"

Which version of windows are you running? Can you manually load these plugins? I suspect your problem is related to something else since nobody has reported this issue in months of testing. In any case if you can't resolve it send me a pm and we can do some further troubleshooting.

PS: installing the new plugins has no bearing on the old dx plugins. They can coexist and will not affect other apps.

There is something messed up in your installation if you don't have common files/vst3 in your default vst scan path unless you manually removed it. 

Every clean installation of sonar includes that path because it is the standard vst3 location across it should never be removed. This is why it didn't work for you. All that is required is to install the latest version of sonar and then the core plugins add on without running through all the hoops you did 

@Robert Glaser @Jon Paul Sapsford

The hotfix is live now. Please try it and see if it fixed your issue. 31.08.0.035

We've got to the root cause of the PRV pane issue. We'll issue a hotfix soon today to address that issue. Sorry for the inconvenience.

48 minutes ago, Jon Paul Sapsford said:

Upgrading from the last update, 2025.08

The things I recall off the top of my head that got reset are the console view was closed, and when I opened it the bar that separates the tracks from the busses was resized and in a different position. The height of the send row and the FX chain  row in console view got reset. The browser window returned and was maximized, the track heights were all changed

Are you using a custom workspace? Set your workspace to None and retry. 

1 hour ago, Robert Glaser said:

That's correct . The double arrow cursor doesn't show up here. I've experienced the panes being closed many times before so I'm familiar with the double arrow cursor functionality. 

Adittionally, this happens on every file. Existing ones as well as new ones. 

@Robert Glaser

I can't see why it would happen with new projects as well as old ones. Something is messed up with your view states. You may need to make a video showing exactly what you are doing. 

Try these troubleshooting steps first:

1. Set your Workspace to None. File - New. Add MIDI track and open PRV. Do you see the keyboard?
If that doesnt work, try setting the workspace to Basic and retry.

2.  Close Sonar first and go into regedit and find this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\Cakewalk\Sonar\View Data
Then rename it to View Data2 or something different.
Now restart Sonar and try it again.

1 hour ago, Jon Paul Sapsford said:

I just updated to the 2nd2025.08 version and just wanted to give some feedback.

Resetting every saved  sessions' layout is super annoying. Having to waste time reorganizing all of my windows today is not what  I had hoped to spend my morning doing when opening  projects.

Is there any chance in the future that we can be warned when an update is going to do that? I know I'll update eventually, obviously, but to have a little heads up  would be nice in case, like I am right now, I'm in the middle of a time sensitive project (yes, I know I'm wasting time posting this, but...)

What are you having to reset? We're not aware of any change that mandates resetting layout. Which version did you upgrade from?

13 hours ago, noynekker said:

Great update to those old and still useful DX plugs ! Much appreciation bakers !!

I found the install of these very unfriendly, tried to follow all the steps, and read the criterion . . . but should it take 45 minutes to get them working ?

Im not sure why it took 45 mins to get working. If you are running Sonar with BandLab membership installing the addon takes seconds. Then once it scans the plugins are available. Opening a plugin automatically activates it.  I've tested this on a clean system and the whole process took less than a minute.
Can you provide more detail into what was unfriendly?

Or upgrade to Sonar Free for zero cost.

@Mark Morgon-Shaw can you send me a project that has this issue?
Also if you resize the PRV and resave the project does it work on next open?

2 hours ago, audinf said:

The latest update (from yesterday) apparently solved the problem. I finally was able to open the project, and it worked and played normally. 

However, the anomaly with the mixer remains. I call your attention to that. The mixer should open the way it was left, bot with all the channels hidden, IMO.

BTW - That nag screen is supposed to be there always in the free tier? Quite annoying. Something I'd like to clarify. Back in the day, I bought the lifetime license of the old Sonar Platinum. I know that's not your responsibility anymore (another company, etc.,although the same people), but shouldn't I be entitled to some kind of "upgrade" offer?

There is no upgrade offer for a different product that was from a different company. An annual license for Sonar is super cheap and there are often promos that drop it even further. We did offer promo's to Cbb users at one point.

We havent had the bandwidth to look at video recently. Ffmpeg is an option but it's a huge amount of work to integrate. We can take a look at your issue at some point.

1 hour ago, David Baay said:

Nothing will get 'fixed' if the Bakers can't reproduce your issue.

Are you saying you don't get the double-arrow cursor to drag the pane open?

FWIW I also had an issue that the scale pane being closed by default when opening an existing project with Workspaces set to 'None', but just re-saving any project with the pane open sorted that for all projects (and new ones from templates).

Does this happen on a new project or only a specific project?

1 hour ago, axiology said:

Dropouts on recording with Apollo Quad, unusable... Just upgraded from Cakewalk by Bandlab. Was working before upgrade..

This is unrelated to Sonar. I have an Apollo twin X USB here with no such issues. Compare your audio settings carefully.  What is the exact drop out message you get - there will be a dropout code listed. Use that to troubleshoot your issue.

Note that this thread is to discuss issues specific the this update not general issues.

1 hour ago, Lance Jones said:

SOLVED:

In SONAR, I clicked Help-check for updates and found the Core pugins update there! I installed them and scanned VST's etc.. and they are there. It also replaced the Sonitus plugins in my current project successfully!

 

This is the INITIAL POST:

I installed the SONAR update (I have membership) and scanned VST's just in case. I also have replace if poissible if possible on Project load eelectd int he VST3 migration options (I have had this selected always). I am not seeing the new Core plugins in my plugins list. Is it a separate install from simply updating SONAR? The sonitus DX stuff is still in my plugins list.

Thanks,

Lance

From the release notes
 

Availability

The Core suite (VST3 macOS/Windows) is currently available as add-ons, which you can access from the Updates page of the Start Screen, or via Cakewalk Product Center. These plugins are exclusive to BandLab Membership and can be activated within Next and Sonar, or self-authenticate for use in other DAWs.

PS: Only users with an active BandLab membership will see this add on since its exclusively a premium feature. 

He had an expired beta build that was sent to him for testing that's all. No issue here.

We're pleased to introduce early access to Cakewalk Core Plugins, a powerful suite of nine essential track effects designed for high quality and low CPU consumption.

Please use this topic to post feedback specific to the Cakewalk Core Plugins version 1.0.0.111 release. Release-specific feedback is valuable to us, and consolidating it in a single topic is extremely helpful.

We request that discussion in this thread be restricted to issues directly concerning this release, to make it easier for us to assist users. For other topics, kindly use the feature request section or create new posts.  Off topic messages will be deleted.

Thanks in advance!

Sonar 2025.08 Update 2 build 31.08.0.033 has been released.

This is an exciting release that coincides with the release of our Cakewalk Core Plugins, a powerful suite of nine essential track effects. You can read more about the plugins and download them if you have BandLab membership.

This update has deep integration with these plugins and several performance optimizations that you can read about in the links above.

To post feedback on the Core Plugins use this thread.

Im sorry but your project file is corrupted. It fails and throws that system error when trying to read a clip description which ends up being reported as 414 Mb in length 😛 The file contains garbage from that point on so it wont load.
Does it still open in 8.5? It seems unlikely.

No that will not help. You have to capture a "hang dump" from task manager. See the post that Mark linked to.
There are hundreds of things that can cause any given symptom for a hang so without a dump file we have no way of identifying the cause - which could very well be a side effect of one of the plugins in the project. 

There is a new release of Sonar coming out today so try that and see if it changes anything. There are lots of changes to app startup and some for loading projects so that could change the behavior you are seeing. If not capture a dump file and send it to us. Thats the only way.
There is no option to continue using Cbb as has been mentioned. There are hundreds of thousands of users using Sonar without problems so if you have an environmental specific issue work with support and we can try and get a resolution.

I think you need a hardware mtc sync generator. I used to have a digi smpte slave driver that I gave away a decade ago.

On 8/15/2025 at 10:07 PM, Unmuzzled Music said:

With the Rufus method, I assume it a clean install so you need to re-install all your applications and plugins ?   Also,   after the install, are you able to get MS updates for Windows 11 ?  Thanks

I upgraded 3 machines of mine two years ago and they have been running fine and getting updates. I did not lose any settings.

Freudian slip with autocorrect there. Probably in need of some coffee!

The sonar version uses the same engine as th-u but the bundle is smaller than the full th-u obviously. 

Any upgrades or addons from overloud are compatible.

No unless you buy a full license from overloud you cannot use it in other DAW's. It's locked to Sonar.

-Is the Sonar version identical to the generic version, which has recently become v2?

Afik yes except that it is feature locked as explained above.  You can contact overloud about this.

-What happens to the Sonar version if you cancel your Bandlab subscription?

It's only usable in Sonar at you will lose the ability to save projects.

Well there you have it. All these are huge plugins that are known to be slow to save. It has nothing to do with Sonar. All the host does is request plugins to save their state. If they take 10 minutes to save it adds to the project save time.